299 pages : 23 cm

Armed with his training as a Bible scholar and a linguist, Professor Friedman combines his own understanding of the ancient world with recent archeological evidence and new methods of literary analysis to discover clues within the Bible itself that point to a solution to the puzzle of its authorship. Like a skilled detective on a difficult case, he carefully uncovers the identity of the writers: when and where they lived, their relationship to the events they described, whom they admired, whom they opposed, the political and religious motivations behind their works; and in three cases, he provides their names. He discovers that some of these writers knew each other and tells how this affected, in unexpected ways, the final form the Bible took. Finally, he explains why there are inconsistencies in the Bible, why certain stories came out the way they did and what their relationship was to the historical events they describe, why certain laws were laid down, and why God is portrayed in so many different and often contradictory ways.--From publisher description

Includes index and bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-283) and index

The world that produced the Bible: 1200-722 B.C. -- J and E -- Two kingdoms, two writers -- The world that produced the Bible: 722-587 B.C. -- In the court of King Josiah -- D -- A priest in exile -- The world that produced the Bible: 587-400 B.C. -- A brilliant mistake -- The sacred tent -- In the court of King Hezekiah -- The great irony -- The world that the Bible produced -- Appendix: Identification of the authors of the Five Books of Moses -- Notes on identification of authors

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews